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nlpsem 0.4

This release note reflects a direct comparison between the current package and package_v0.3/nlpsem.

Code quality and documentation improvements

Bug fixes

• Fixed division-by-zero in getPosterior() entropy calculation when nClass = 1.
• Fixed typo “Accuracys” → “Accuracy” in posterior output display.
• Fixed missing closing parenthesis in getTVCmodel() documentation for Jenss-Bayley curve function.
• Fixed typo memebership → membership in getSummary().
• Added missing NULL check for class column in getPosterior() when label = TRUE.
• Added missing model NULL validation in getEstimateStats() for likelihood, bootstrap, and combined CIs.
• Fixed nested any() logic error in validate_res_scale().
• Fixed [[]] list indexing on numeric vector in getMULTI.initial().
• Fixed typo “dose not” → “does not” in TVC.initial_helper.R.
• Fixed getFigure(): Mediation sub-model loop iterated over y_var (always length 1) instead of traj_var, and outcome was not indexed — only the first trajectory was plotted.
• Fixed TVC.initial_helper.R: Hardcoded t_var = "T" replaced with the actual t_var function parameter when computing TVC initial values.
• Fixed MED.output_helper.R: Swapped y_var/m_var standard error order in 3 output blocks (BLS baseline, LIN longitudinal, BLS longitudinal) so SEs match their corresponding estimates.
• Fixed MED.mxModel_helper.R: Removed quoted strings from mxAlgebra() calls in 4 places. mxAlgebra() uses non-standard evaluation (bare names); quoted strings are for mxAlgebraFromString().
• Fixed array indexing in TVC.output_helper.R, MIX.output_helper.R (2 places), and MGroup.output_helper.R (2 places): Loop assumed consecutive records starting at 1; replaced with seq_along() for correct indexing with arbitrary record indices.
• Fixed getPosterior(): Protected entropy calculation from log(0) using pmax(prob, .Machine$double.xmin).
• Fixed getLatentKappa(): Added defensive guard for kappa edge cases (kappa >= 1 or <= 0).
• Fixed getSummary(): Empty latent classes in mixture models now handled correctly using factor(membership, levels = 1:nClass) to ensure proportions vector matches nClass.
• Fixed validate_res_scale(): List branch now uses <= 0 / >= 1 to match non-list branch (both enforce exclusive bounds as documented).
• Fixed MIX.initial_helper.R: TVC residual (TVC_starts$residuals) now also inflated by 2× when decompose != 0, matching the Y residual inflation for mixture model convergence.
• Fixed MULTI.initial_helper.R: Residual covariance matrix off-diagonal indexing used res_cor[traj_i + traj_j - 1] which produced wrong indices for 4+ longitudinal outcomes. Replaced with sequential counter to correctly map pair (i,j) to res_cor vector position.
• Fixed TVC.initial_helper.R: Added res_cor = NULL default to getTVC.initial() signature. Callers in MIX.initial_helper.R and MGroup.initial_helper.R omit res_cor when decompose = 0 (where it is unused), but the missing default could cause errors if the function is refactored.
• Fixed getMGM() / getMULTI.initial(): Multivariate models now preserve the full y_var prefixes provided by the user instead of collapsing them to single-letter uppercase prefixes.
• Fixed MGM.output_helper.R, MGroup.output_helper.R, and MIX.output_helper.R: between-process covariance output for 3+ outcomes/classes no longer appends cumulative estimate blocks or corrupts paramOut tables.
• Fixed MGM.mxModel_helper.R, MGroup.SUBMODEL.MGM_helper.R, and MIX.SUBMODEL.MGM_helper.R: Fixed-parameter multivariate covariance extraction now works for 3+ outcomes instead of assuming exactly 2 longitudinal processes.
• Fixed MED.Initial_helper.R: In longitudinal-predictor mediation models, the initial beta_x and beta_m blocks are no longer swapped in the outcome regression starts.
• Fixed TVC.initial_helper.R: decompose = 3 now computes kappa starts from the change-from-baseline temporal state implied by the latent growth-factor starts, and the nonparametric path now returns finite starts instead of falling through to NA.
• Fixed intrinsic bilinear spline loading expressions across LGCM, TVC, MGM, mixture, and multiple-group models by replacing the nondifferentiable knot expression with a smooth approximation, improving optimizer behavior near the knot.
• Fixed MIX.output_helper.R: Cluster-TIC coefficient names now scale to any number of predictors instead of hard-coding a 3-column naming pattern.

Code improvements

• Removed unnecessary I() wrappers from logical conditions across 11 files.
• Extracted duplicated validation logic into shared internal helpers (validation_helpers.R).
• Vectorized row-by-row probability matrix computation in getPosterior() using sweep()/rowSums().
• Refactored positional list indexing (starts[[1]][[2]]) to named access (starts$Y_starts$covMatrix) across all helper files for maintainability.
• Added as.data.frame(dat) guard in all main functions for tibble compatibility.
• Added validate_res_cor() helper and validation calls in getTVCmodel(), getMGM(), getMediation(), getMIX(), and getMGroup().
• Removed duplicate validate_curveFun_mediation() function (logic already in validate_sub_Model()).
• Eliminated code duplication in getFigure() by removing redundant is.null(nClass) / !is.null(nClass) branching.
• Simplified redundant else if conditions in StandardMethods.R.
• Data-driven residual initial values: getUNI.GF() now computes per-person mean squared residuals from individual model fits and returns the median as an attribute. All initial value helpers (UNI.initial_helper.R, MULTI.initial_helper.R, TVC.initial_helper.R, MED.Initial_helper.R) now use this data-driven estimate instead of the var() * res_scale heuristic, with the heuristic retained as a fallback. This provides more accurate starting values, especially for nonlinear functional forms (EXP, JB, BLS) where the heuristic could be orders of magnitude off.
• Refactored duplicated Wald/likelihood/bootstrap CI code in getEstimateStats() into local helpers (.add_wald_CI(), .get_likelihood_CI(), .get_bootstrap_CI()).
• Changed scalar logical operators from &/| to &&/|| in validation_helpers.R (7 places) and getFigure.R (3 places) for proper short-circuit evaluation.
• Removed dead code in MIX.initial_helper.R (duplicate order_indices assignment).
• Added 13 NSE global variable declarations to global_vars.R for bare names used in mxAlgebra() calls.
• res_scale is now optional: With data-driven residual estimation, users no longer need to specify res_scale. When omitted (default NULL), the data-driven estimate is used; if that fails, a fallback heuristic of var() * 0.1 is applied. Users can still override with an explicit res_scale value if desired.
• res_cor is now optional: Residual correlation between longitudinal outcomes is now estimated from data when res_cor is not specified. The estimation uses within-person demeaned residuals correlated across trajectory pairs. If estimation fails, a heuristic of 0.3 is applied as fallback. This applies to getMGM(), getMediation(), getTVCmodel() (when decompose != 0), getMIX(), and getMGroup(). Users can still override with explicit res_cor values if desired.
• Automatic parameter naming: When paramOut = TRUE, the names argument is now optional. If omitted (default NULL), meaningful parameter names are automatically generated based on the model configuration (functional form, intrinsic flag, covariates, decompose level, etc.). This eliminates the need for users to manually construct long parameter name vectors for every model. Users can still supply custom names to override the auto-generated labels. Auto-naming is supported across all 7 model functions: getLGCM(), getLCSM(), getTVCmodel(), getMediation(), getMGM(), getMIX(), and getMGroup(). A safety net in all output helpers auto-pads with generic labels if the name count doesn’t match the estimate count.
• Improved BLS initial values: Bilinear spline (BLS) individual growth factor estimation now uses a grid search over 10 candidate knot locations (with OLS piecewise-linear fits) instead of a single midpoint guess. The top 3 candidates are tried with NLS, using both default Gauss-Newton and port algorithms with bounded knot location. This reduces NLS failure rates from ~40-46% to ~25% and lowers median residual variance by ~40-60%, yielding more accurate starting values for BLS models.
• Added pooled-anchor nonlinear starts for negative exponential, Jenss-Bayley, and bilinear spline growth functions. These starts preserve person-level pseudo growth factors, so latent mean and covariance starts are still estimated from subject-specific values rather than from a single pooled trajectory.
• Added intrinsic-specific stabilization for nonlinear starts in univariate, TVC, multivariate, multiple-group, and mixture wrappers, including more conservative starts for random knot/ratio/acceleration components.
• Added robust cluster-TIC softmax starts for mixture models: predictors are standardized before the multinomial fit, coefficients are transformed back to the original scale, and the result is shrunk toward intercept-only logits with a fallback for unstable fits or constant predictors.
• Centralized repeated positive-definite repair logic in initial_helpers_common.R, added reusable validation helpers in validation_helpers.R, and introduced shared helpers for output naming and multivariate covariance reduction in output_helpers_common.R and multi_cov_helpers.R.

Documentation

• Added @seealso cross-references linking related functions across all 14 exported functions.
• Added @noRd to all 44 internal helper files to suppress unnecessary .Rd generation.
• Added introductory vignette (nlpsem_overview) with package overview and quick-start guide.
• Expanded getMGroup_examples vignette with a second example (quadratic LGCM with TICs).
• Added explanatory comment to global_vars.R.
• Added NEWS.md changelog.
• Added \examples{} sections to ModelSummary and printTable S4 generics.
• Fixed LaTeX math mode ($95\%$) to plain text in KappaOutput class documentation.
• Shortened DESCRIPTION title to comply with CRAN < 65 character guideline.
• Fixed typo “loadigs” → “loadings” in comments across 10 helper files.
• Fixed typo “his function” → “This function” in LGCM.mxModel_helper.R.
• Fixed typo “model.It” → “model. It” in getEstimateStats.R roxygen.
• Fixed typo “Calcualte” → “Calculate” in getLatentKappa.R example.
• Fixed grammar “if want to” → “if you want to” in validation_helpers.R.
• Fixed misleading comments in getMIX.R and getMGroup.R (said “latent change score model” instead of “mixture model” / “multiple group model”).
• Synchronized the vignette code with the regenerated examples in inst/extdata.
• Updated package- and function-level references from preprint / “advance online publication” wording to the final journal citations where available.
• Added vignette build metadata to DESCRIPTION (knitr, rmarkdown, and VignetteBuilder) and added the introductory nlpsem_overview vignette.

Testing and infrastructure

• Added a tests/testthat suite covering validation helpers, automatic parameter naming, nonlinear growth-factor starts, mediation starts, and multivariate regression cases.
• Refreshed the saved example objects in inst/extdata/*.RData and aligned the vignettes with those regenerated examples.

nlpsem 0.3

Initial CRAN release

Model types

• Univariate latent growth curve models (getLGCM()) and latent change score models (getLCSM()), with optional time-invariant covariates (TICs).
• Models with time-varying covariates (getTVCmodel()).
• Multivariate longitudinal models (getMGM()) and longitudinal mediation models (getMediation()).
• Multiple-group models (getMGroup()) for comparing trajectories across manifested groups.
• Longitudinal mixture models (getMIX()) for identifying latent trajectory classes.

Supported growth curve functions

• Linear, quadratic, negative exponential, Jenss-Bayley, and bilinear spline functional forms.
• Intrinsically nonlinear specification for negative exponential, Jenss-Bayley, and bilinear spline models.

Post-processing and inference

• getSummary(): Model fit statistics (number of parameters, -2LL, AIC, BIC).
• getEstimateStats(): P-values and confidence intervals (Wald, likelihood-based, and bootstrap).
• getFigure(): Visualization of estimated growth trajectories with confidence intervals.
• getLRT(): Likelihood ratio test for nested model comparison.
• getIndFS(): Individual factor scores.
• getPosterior(): Posterior class probabilities for mixture models.
• getLatentKappa(): Cohen’s kappa for latent class agreement.

Data

• Included RMS_dat, a processed sample from the ECLS-K:2011 study for demonstration purposes.

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